Madam, - Yesterday, for the first time, I took the Luas to St James's Hospital.
While I was delighted at the service offered by the line stopping in the heart of the St James's compound, I was somewhat bemused by the Irish form of St James's in both the written and oral announcements: 'Ospidéal San Séamas'. 'San'? What does this mean? Literally, it would mean "The Hospital In The James" - "san" being a shortening of "ins an", or "in the". The Irish for saint is "naomh", and indeed on St James's Hospital's own literature, they refer to "Ospidéal Naomh Shéamais".
Are there any plans to correct this? If the sign writer had incorrectly used English (as in, say, St James's Bordello) I am sure they would have no hesitation in correcting it. Why was the same not applied to the Irish? I also have to wonder if there are more instances of which I am not aware.
For the amount of money expended on the Luas, could they not at least get the bilingual usage correct?
- Yours, etc,
MICHAEL O'RIORDAN, Monasterevin, Co Kildare.